F3a 

63 




H Congress \ 

?c? Session j 



T 

( SENATE 



Document 

No. 180 



Address on Washington's Birthday 



ADDRESS 

DELIVERED ON FEBRUARY 22, 1918, AT WASHINGTON'S 

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION BEFORE THE SONS 

AND DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION, 

AT WASHINGTON, D. C. 



By 
HON. WARREN G. HARDING 

UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF OHIO 






I P' 



6 ^^0/ 



PRESENTED BY MR. POMERENE 
February 25, 1918.~Ordered to be printed 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1918 



. 63 



0. 

JUL 






ADDEESS ON WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY. 



Mr. President, Madam iPresident, Your Excellencies, Sons and 
Daughters of the Revolution, ladies and gentlemen, my countrymen, 
I have been sensing the atmosphere of this patriotic occasion and the 
significance of this celebration. There is an interesting suggestion 
in the representation here to-day which gives assurances of that fra- 
ternity of nations which is to hold justice and our ideals of civiliza- 
tion secure to the world. 

Here, on my right, is the ambassador from Italy, whose people 
discovered us; on my left is the new ambassador from Great Britain, 
whose people largely developed us; and nearby sits the ambassador 
of France, whose people helped to deliver us, all joining us of 
America in a tribute to the beloved Father of the Eepublic, and 
consecrating all to the common cause of liberty and justice and the 
security of national life. 

It is impossible to resist the impelling thought to speak as an 
eligible son of the Eevolution and say what I know is in your hearts 
to these official representatives of the nations with whom we are 
committed in all conscience and righteousness. 

To you, Mr. Ambassador, I pledge you America's sympathy and 
admiration, in the sacrifices made and the courageous battle which 
Italy is giving to our common enemy. And to you, Lord Reading, 
I utter what I knoAv to be felt and yet little expressed, our reverent 
regard for Great Britain's unselfish and unalterable resolution to 
fight to the death for the sanctity of international compacts. And 
to you. Mr. Ambassador, I speak the love and admiration of America 
for noble and heroic France, who helped us establish the very liberty 
for which your sons are dying to-day. In such a fraternity as you 
and our own people make, I find the highest assurance mankind may 
have for the future security of the civilized world. 

It is good to meet and drink at the fountains of wisdom inherited 
from the founding fathers of the Republic. It is a fitting time for 
retrospection and introspection Avhen we face a problem to-day even 
greater than the miracle they wrought. The comparison does not 
belittle their accomplishment. Xothing in all history • surpasses 
their achievement. The miracle was not the victory for independ- 
ence. The stupendous thing was the successful establishment of 
the Republic. There they were, spent and bleeding, in the very 
chaos of newly found freedom ; there they were, with ideas conflict- 
ing, interests varied, jealousies threatening, and selfishness impell- 
ing; there they were, without having visualized nationality. They 
had contended only for liberty, and Avhen it was obtained they found 
a nation to be the necessary means of its preservation. 

With commanding patriotism and lofty statesmanship, with heroic 
sacrifice and deep-penetrating foresight, they founded what we had 

3 



4 ADDRESS ON WASHINGTON S BIRTHDAY. 

come to believe the first seemingly dependable popular Government 
on the face of the earth. I can believe they were divinely inspired. 
In the reverent retrospection I can believe that destiny impelled. 
Surely there Avas the guiding hand of divinity itself, conscious of 
sublime purpose. 

They not only wrought union and concord out of division and 
discord, but the}'^ established a representative democracy, and for the 
first time in the history of the world wrote civil liberty'' into the 
fundamental law. On this civil liberty is builcled the temple of 
human liberty, and through this representative Government we 
Americans have wrought to the astonishment of the world. More, 
on the unfailing foundation of civil liberty they established orderly 
government, the most precious possession of all civilization, and 
made justice its highest purpose. 

JMark you, they were not reforming the world. They had dearly 
bought the freedom of a new people; they reared new standards of 
liberty; they consecrated themselves to equal rights, then sought to 
establish the highest guaranty of them all. They had the vision to 
realize that no dependable government could be founded on ephem- 
eral popular opinion. They knew that thinking, intelligent, delib- 
erate, public opinion, in due time would write any statute that justice 
inspired. They knew that no pure democracy, with political power 
measured by physical might, ever had endured; that neither the 
autocrat with usurped or granted power, or the mass in impassioned 
committal could maintain libe^-ty and justice or bestow their limit- 
less blessings. So they fashione 1 their triumphs, their hopes, their 
aspirations, and their convictions into the Constitution of the repre- 
sentative Republic; they made justice the crowning figure on the 
surpassing temple, and stationed jjeckoning opportunity at the door — 
equal opportunity, let me say — and bade the world to come and be 
welcome ;' and the world came — the down-trodden and the oppressed, 
the adventurous and ambitious — and they drank freely of the waters 
of our political life, and stood erect, and achieved, each according 
to his merits or his industry, his talents or his genius. Generous 
in their rejoicing, the fathers neglected to establish the altars of 
consecration at the threshold. Eager to develop our measureless re- 
sources, anxious to have humanity come and partake freely of new- 
world liberty, they asked no dedication at the portals. They devel- 
oped an American soul in their own sacrifices for liberty, but neg- 
lected to demand soul consecration before participation on the part 
of those who came to share their triinnphs. 

We have come to realize the oversight noAv. We have come to find 
our boasted popular Government put to the crucial test in defending 
its national rights. We met with no such problem in the Civil War. 
That was a destined -conflict between Americans of the two schools 
of political thought, which was the final test in maintaining nation- 
ality. There was like passion for country on either side of that great 
struggle, but the dross in the misdirected passion for disunion was 
burned aAvay in the crucible of fire and blood, and the pure gold 
turned into shining stars in dear Old Glory again. We settled rights 
to nationalitv among ourselves. We are fighting to-day for the 
unalterable rights Avhich are inherent in nationality^, without which 
no self-respecting nation could hope to survive, and for which any 
nation refusing to fight does not deserve to survive. 



ADDKESS ON WASHINi, jTON S BIRTHDAY. 5 

There has never been one moment ors^oubt among Americans about 
the righteousness of our part in this ynutterable war. There has 
never been any question among Americsms about the necessitj^ of our 
taking a mighty part therein. And theji'e isn't any question among 
real, red-blooded Americans about our pghting it to a triumphant 
ending. It is not in my heart to utter alboast, and I am not so un- 
heeding as to underrate the determinati(|)n and the preparedness of 
the allied, central powers. I do not misconstrue the loyalty of their 
peoples, against whom we do and must gi've battle, whether we pro- 
claim it so or not, but this mightiest conflict of all time is one of 
resources and brains as well as valor and heroism, and America is 
rich in all, and her strength is doubled by the righteousness of our 
cause. We were slow in our committal, but it is unalterable. We do 
not seek to destro}-, but Germany must be brought to terms. We do 
not cry for vengeance, but the madman of the world must be re- 
strained or restored to reason. We do not mean to intrude or dictate 
any more than we mean to tolerate intrusion or dictation, but now 
(hat we are in>olved, we mean to make the world fit to live in, and 
hold America and all lawful avenues of commerce and comity safe 
for America7is on land or sea. 

We have the duty to preserve the inherited covenant of the fathers ; 
we have the obligation to hand on to succeeding generations the very 
Republic which we inherited. If this generation will not sacrifice 
and suffer in this crisis of the world, the Republic is doomed. If this 
fortunate people can not prove popular government capable of de- 
fense in a war for national rights, popular government fails. If the 
impudent assumption of world domination is not thwarted by the 
entente allies and this people, then civilization itself is defeated. 
Never since the world began has any nation been able to dominate 
the world. A mighty, righteous people may influence and help man- 
kind, and I have wished that noble task foi' this Republic, but domi- 
nation is for God alone, and His agency is the universal brotherhood 
of man. 

There is one compensation in the very beginning. We are finding 
ourselves. From this day henceforth' we are to be an American 
people in fact as well as name. Consecration to America is the delib- 
erate and unalterable decree. The dedicating altars are erected and 
are free as liberty itself. Now and hereafter the individual, no 
matter who he is or whence he comes, who proclaims himself an 
American and fattens his existence on American opportunity, must 
be an American in his heart and soul. More, the American of to-day, 
to-morrow, and so long as the Republic endures and triumphs, must 
be schooled to the duties of citizenship which go with the privileges 
and advantages thereof, and men and women of America are to find 
vv'hat they can do for orderly government irstead of seeking what it 
can do for them. 

Solemnly, my countrymen, this is an epoch in human affairs. The 
world is in upheaval. There is more than war and its measureless 
cost. Civilization is in a fluid state. All existent forms of govern- 
ment are being tested, and the very fundamentals of human achieve- 
ment are in question. In this hour of reverent memory for the be- 
loved Father of our Country, in this wholesome retrospection of the 
miracle wrought by the founders, in the hurried contemplation of the 



6 ADDRESS ON WASHINGTON'S BIKTHDAY. 

inaivelous a('Iiie>'eiiients of our people to whom they gave an immor- 
tal boginning, let us strive to appreciate their wisdom and our good 
fortune and commit ourselves anew to the essential preservation. 

1 Avonder what the great Washington would utter in warning, in 
his passionate love of the Eepublic and his deep concern about future 
welfare, if he coiild know the drift of to-day? In his undying fare- 
well address his repeated anxiety Avas concerning jealousies and heart- 
burnings Avhich spring from distrust and factional misrepresenta- 
tions—" they tend to rend alien to each other those who ought to be 
bound together by fraternal affection." 

And he Avarned us that " respect for authority, compliance with 
its laws, acquiescence in its measures are duties enjoined by the fun- 
damental maxims of true liberty." " Liberty itself will find in such 
a government, Avith powers properly distributed and adjusted, its 
surest guardian. It is, indeed, little less than a name where the gov- 
ernment is too feeble to Avithstand the enterprises of faction * * * 
and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of rights and 
property." 

Alluding to parties, more comparable to factions in our citizen- 
ship of the present day, he Avarned against " the spirit having its 
root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists in all 
goA'ernments, more or less stifled, controlled or repressed, but in 
those of popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly 
their Avorst enemy." 

In our mighty development we have added to the perils of which 
Washington Avarned. The danger has not been in party association, 
but in party appeal or surrender to faction. There has been no 
partisan politics in our Avar preparation. On the contrary, par- 
tisan lines haA'C been effaced, to close up the ranks in patriotic dcA^o- 
tion. But factions have groAvn more menacing and hold their fac- 
tional designs more necessary than patriotic consecration. 

It is characteristic of popular goA'ernment, and its Aveakness, that 
(here is more appeal to popularity than concern for the common 
Aveal. Too many men in public life are more concerned about bal- 
lots than the bulwarks of free institutions. Our groAvth, our diversi- 
fication, our Nation-Avide communication, our profit-bearing selfish- 
ness — these have filled the land Avith organzied factions, not geo- 
graphical, as Washington so much feared, but commercial, industrial, 
agricultural, and professional, each seeking to promote the interests 
of its OAvn, not Avithout justification at times, but often a menace, in 
exacting privilege or favor through the utterance of political threats. 
If poiDular goAcrnment is to survive it must grant exact justice to all 
men and fear none. If laAV is to be respected and government 
reriiain supreme, legislation must be for all the people, not for the 
feAv of vast fortune or its influences, or the fcAV of. commanding 
activity and their assumptions, or the many who may assert political 
poAver in accordance Avith numerical strength. The Eepublic is of 
all the people, equal in their claims to civil liberty and the grant 
of opportunity, aye, and its righteous rewards. The anxieties of 
world conflict and" the inevitable alterations must not blind us to the 
tasks of preservation. 

If the Avar is to make of us, or of any national votary of modified 
democracy, an impotent people, paralyzed by revolutionary reform, 



ADDRESS ON WASHINGTON S BIETHDAY. 

it is not worth the winning. If this a\ ()iW tumult is to leave w^i\ecked 
hopes like that of chaotic Russia to pnnle that autocracy and unin- 
telligent democracy have a common infatny, then civilization must 
have its purification in a penitence of lailure and wrecked hopes 
and unspeakable sacrifices, until God in llis mercy and wisdom re- 
stores sanity to mankind and admonishea men to achie\ement over 
the proven paths of human progress. Na thinking man can ignore 
the changes which war is working. But sjurely there is a righteous 
mean between the extremes of the expiring adherents of autocracy 
and the intoxicated radicals of deceived and demoralized democrac3^ 
Let's prove the Eepublic the highest agency of humanity's just 
aspirations. 

My countrymen, I am not crj^ing out in a wilderness of pessimism, 
I am uttering a warning that comes of love for the Republic. Let 
us go on, no matter what betides, to the dependable establishment of 
our national rights and the safely of our peoples; yes, and the sus- 
tained hands of justice among the peoples of the earth. We are no 
longer able to hold aloof, and the world must be made safe to live in. 
Let us prove our unity — the common purpose and the unalterable 
purpose of all Americans to do that, and then let us dedicate our- 
selves in unity and concord and the same unalterable resolution to 
the preservation of the inherited Republic. I could utter a prayer 
for an American benediction, to bestow on us the wisdom, the devo- 
tion, the faith, and the willingness to sacrifice, which strengthened 
the fathers in their mighty tasks. I wish w^e might dwell in their 
simplicity and frugality and the freedom from envy which attended. 
I wish I might end the extravagance of government and of indi- 
vidual life which adds to unrest and rends our strength. It is our 
besetting sin. We need as much sober thought about what we spend 
as we need agitation about what we earn in every walk of life. No 
people shod in $18 shoes is equipped for the conquering march of 
civilization. 

We do not proclaim ours the perfect Republic, nor yet the ideal 
popular Government, but we do maintain it is the best and the 
freest that the world has ever known, and under it mankind has 
advanced and achieved as under none other since civilization dawned, 
and in good conscience and consecrated citizenship and abiding faith 
and* high hope we mean, with God's good guidance, to go on to the 
fulfillment of the highest American destiny. 



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